The Hauser Report: The Meaning of Crawford-Porter

Published

2 years ago

November 21, 2021

The-Hauser-Report-The-Maning-of-Crawford-Porter

On Saturday night, November 20, Terence Crawford successfully defended his WBO 147-pound title with a tenth-round knockout of Shawn Porter before a sold-out crowd of 11,568 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It was a statement win for Crawford that boxing fans hope will pave the way for more and bigger career-defining fights in the future.

Crawford came into the bout recognized as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. His record stood at 37-0 with 28 knockouts. But at age 34, he didn’t have a defining fight on his resume. As Jimmy Tobin wrote after Terence’s fourth-round stoppage of a faded Kell Brook last year, “No one seriously denies Crawford’s talent, but no one seriously denies he is squandering it.” Bart Barry noted, “Just because he has been near the top of abstract rankings for a couple years doesn’t mean his reign has been a good one.”

Crawford moved into the public eye with eleven fights on HBO during a fifty-month span that ended on May 20, 2017. The opponents were learning experiences, some more challenging than others. Terence did what he was supposed to do against them.

Then Crawford’s activity level dropped. Over the next 54 months, he had only six fights. In the first – against Julius Indongo – he unified the four major 140-pound belts with an impressive third-round stoppage. But Indongo has now been knocked out in four of his last five outings.

After beating Indongo, Crawford moved up to 147 pounds and dominated a mix of past-their-prime names (Brook and Amir Khan) and marginal opponents (Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez, and Egidijus Kavaliauskas). He’d been on the sidelines for more than a year before fighting Porter.

Why hasn’t the superbly talented Crawford become a star?

For starters, the reality of boxing is that very few stars have been made since HBO dropped out of the business. One might ask why ESPN can’t make stars in the sweet science? After all, ESPN has a much larger platform than HBO ever had. And it has money. In addition to advertising revenue and monthly payments from cable system operators, ESPN receives income from more than seventeen million people who subscribe to ESPN+. Within this framework, it pays Top Rank a reported $84 million annually in license fees for fights pursuant to a seven-year contract.

But long-term output deals with a promoter are often counterproductive for a network because they take away the network’s biggest bargaining chip – the date. And they encourage the practice of fighters only fighting opponents who are under the same promotional umbrella (a practice akin to the inbred insanity that once accompanied members of royal families in Europe marrying their own cousins).

One key to HBO’s success was that its boxing program was open to all promoters. That encouraged star-making fights. Indeed, one reason for the decline of HBO’s boxing program was that there came a time when it forged an alliance with Al Haymon and gave Haymon’s fighters preferential treatment in a way that wasn’t in HBO’s best interests and worked against the best fighting the best.

These forces came to a head for Crawford after his November 14, 2020, knockout of Kell

Brook. Bob Arum (Terence’s promoter) was asked by The Athletic about Crawford’s future with Top Rank and, clearly frustrated, responded, “He’s got to promote like {Teofimo} Lopez does. He’s got to promote like Shakur {Stevenson} does, like Mayweather did, like Pacquiao did. If he doesn’t, then who the f*** needs him? He may be the greatest fighter in the world. But hey, I ain’t going bankrupt promoting him. I could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I’ve lost on him in the last three fights, a beautiful home. Nobody questions Crawford’s tremendous ability. The question is, ‘Does he pay the bills?'”

Four days later, Crawford responded during a SiriusXM interview. Some of his comments were confrontational. “It pissed me off because I’m one of the most loyal people,” Terence said. “For him to say some foolish sh** like that, it made me look at him a totally different way. Release me now and you don’t have to lose money no more. I’m not a promoter. What am I? A fighter. I get paid to fight, I don’t get paid to promote. He gets paid to promote. He’s supposed to promote me. I always felt like I was set up from the jump so they didn’t have to pay me the money that I deserved. I used to take pay cuts because I didn’t care about the money. Now he’s going to pay me more [than] the [contractual] minimum every single time that I fight because I deserve it. You’re going to pay me what I’m worth.”

But Crawford also struck a conciliatory note, saying, “I can’t bash Bob Arum and Top Rank. They gave me the opportunity to accomplish everything in my career. I know deep down in my heart that Bob really is a good dude and he really did try everything possible in his will to get these fights I was asking for. I don’t know what made him come out and say all of the negative stuff he said about me. I have a lot of things going through my head right now. I don’t really like to talk about it because I’m not the kind of person to put my business in the streets. If I ever had a problem with Bob Arum and Top Rank, I always went to them. We may have a disagreement right now. We’re going through some trials and tribulations, but we’re gonna get it figured out. Top Rank is the company I am with right now, but who knows what the future may hold.”

Money can soothe hurt feelings. Top Rank’s relationship with Teofimo Lopez is Exhibit A for that proposition. But Top Rank built Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, and Miguel Cotto to super-stardom, shepherded Manny Pacquiao through his glory years, and lost all of them. That’s the nature of boxing. So, with time running out on its contract with Crawford, Top Rank matched Terence against Shawn Porter.

Porter had compiled a 31-3-1 (17 KOs) record that included victories over Devon Alexander, Paulie Malignaggi, Adrien Broner, Andre Berto, Danny Garcia, and Yordenis Ugas. But he’d lost his three biggest fights – against Kell Brook, Keith Thurman, and Errol Spence.

On the business side of things, Porter was promoted by Al Haymon (Arum’s archrival in recent years). But Haymon was willing to cede control of Crawford-Porter to Top Rank. And Terence was likely to leave Top Rank once his contractual obligation to the promoter was fulfilled (which it now has been). So, from Arum’s point of view, why not make the fight?

Meanwhile, from Haymon’s point of view, an upset would increase Porter’s marketability. And let’s not forget, Haymon would love to sign Crawford.

The build-up to Crawford-Porter was largely about Crawford. Porter is a class act and a good fighter who has always been willing to go in tough. But in terms of marketability, his ring losses had put a ceiling on how high he could climb.

There was also a question as to what Porter would bring to the ring on fight night. He’d fought only once in the preceding 26 months – an uninspiring win by decision over the justifiably unheralded Sebastian Formella. Indeed, some observers regarded Porter largely as a measuring stick for Crawford. Terence opened as a 4-to-1 betting favorite and the odds moved as high as 6-to-1. Yes, Porter was “always dangerous.” And this was an opportunity for him to reboot. But at age 35, could he compete with Crawford?

Terence thought not. “I respect everything that Shawn does,” Crawford said at the final pre-fight press conference. “Shawn is athletic. He can box. He can bang. He can move around in the ring. He can cut corners and take angles. I’m just going to say that I do a lot of things better than Shawn.”

When fight night came, Porter fought as hoped for, applying pressure as best he could. Crawford was simply better.

Terence is a complete fighter, who shifts seamlessly from orthodox to southpaw. He now has “man strength” to go with his skills. He’s no longer just a slick boxer; he’s a puncher. With an attitude. And he keeps his strength as a fight wears on.

Porter fought well. The judges’ scorecards were remarkably consistent. Each judge tallied each round the same except for round eight (which Steve Weisfeld and Dave Moretti scored for Porter and Max DeLuca gave to Crawford). After nine rounds, the cards stood at 87-84, 86-85, 86-85 in Terence’s favor. But on a more primal level, Crawford had established his dominance.

The end came in round ten. Fifteen seconds into the stanza, a sharp right uppercut landed flush on Porter’s jaw and dropped him to the canvas. Shawn rose at the count of three. Crawford went after him and connected with a crushing straight left followed by three more head shots of varying severity that downed Porter for the second time. This time, Shawn was up at seven. Referee Celestino Ruiz was assessing the situation when Kenny Porter (Shawn’s trainer and father) stepped onto the ring apron and stopped the fight.

I understand my dad’s position,” Shawn said at the post-fight press conference. “I took too many shots right there, clean. And that’s not what we do. It was bad defense, hands were down. Part of me wanted to get back and was careless. And then the other part of me was a little out of it and not able to defend myself quick enough.”

Shawn then announced his retirement from boxing. Let’s hope he stands by that decision.

As for the future; the fight that most boxing fans want to see next is Crawford vs. Errol Spence. But it appeared as though Spence didn’t want to fight Crawford before. And most likely, he doesn’t want to fight him now.

At the post-fight press conference on Saturday night, Porter (who lost a split decision to Spence in 2019) observed, “Terence is different. It’s like you can’t really pick up everything it is that he does. He does everything more than exceptionally well. Going twelve rounds with Errol Spence was not as tough as fighting Terence Crawford. He’s the best out of everybody I have been in the ring with.”

And Crawford seems to have given up on the idea that Spence will step in the ring with him, saying, “That fight is past me pushing. I did everything that I possibly can do to try to make that fight happen. Everybody kept saying, ‘Oh, I’m chasing him. I’m this and I’m that.’ Yeah, I was chasing him. And he don’t want the fight. He was saying he wanted the fight, but he really didn’t want the fight. And my thing was just, if you wanted the fight, you could’ve made the fight happen. I really don’t see us fighting, to tell you the truth. Sometimes you just let those fights pass you by.”

Spence, of course, is promoted by Al Haymon, who also has other potential high-profile opponents for Crawford under contract. But it remains to be seen whether Haymon’s big-money names will be willing to risk their titles and physical wellbeing against Terence.

As for his promotional future, Crawford declared at the post-fight press conference, “I’m pretty sure my decision is made already. I’m moving forward with my career right now and I wish everybody the best.”

But Top Rank has done an excellent job of building Crawford to this point. And if Terence wants big-money guarantees going forward, he might have to wait for Canelo Alvarez’s promotional situation to play out before getting clarity with regard to his own situation.

Canelo has said that he’s happy with his status as a free agent. After all but disappearing on DAZN for six consecutive fights, he generated an estimated 800,000 pay-per-view buys for his November 6 outing against Caleb Plant. Signing Canelo is a goal for every major network and promoter in boxing. Based on his showing against Plant (in the ring and economically), a network might decide to throw an irresistible amount of money at him (as DAZN did several years ago).

Canelo, because of the opponents he has faced, deserves today’s #1 pound-for-pound ranking. But Crawford is in the conversation. Meanwhile, Terence has some thoughts that merit consideration in closing:

* “A lot of people are born with the urge to win everything. That’s me. Some people are born with more heart. You can’t teach heart. You can’t teach somebody to take punches. Some people are just born with natural ability and God-gifted skills. I believe that I’m one of them.”

* “Me as a fighter, a lot of people on the outside can see something different. ‘Oh, I see this and I see that. I can exploit this kind of defense and do this with Terence Crawford.’ Then, when they get in the ring with me, I’m totally different. Seeing something and being in the ring is two totally different things.”

* “I look at most of the critics, you know, they don’t even know too much about boxing. They just go on what the next person saying or what they read and what they hear. They not going on they own boxing knowledge. So, I don’t really too much bother to care what critics say or how they view me and how they rate me.”

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – Broken Dreams: Another Year Inside Boxing – was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, he was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty images

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Thomas Hauser

Thomas Hauser is the author of 52 books. In 2005, he was honored by the Boxing Writers Association of America, which bestowed the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism upon him. He was the first Internet writer ever to receive that award. In 2019, Hauser was chosen for boxing's highest honor: induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Lennox Lewis has observed, “A hundred years from now, if people want to learn about boxing in this era, they’ll read Thomas Hauser.”

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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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